Toyota Pounds 2018 Drag Racing

This is the Statt Mann Baby. Time to Scatt a little bit.

It’s easy to miss Toyota’s domination in NHRA drag racing. You don’t see Camrys or Corollas in any of the classes after all.

But Toyota sponsored drivers and teams won ten races this year. J.R. Todd won three of the last five races in the NHRA Countdown on his way to his first Funny Car title. Todd won six races in all, most of any driver in the 2018 season.

It’s taken several conversations through the years to learn what Toyota Racing Development engineers do in drag racing. Considering the speeds, the aerodynamic design work in Funny Car and Top Fuel might be the most important contribution.

Then there’s the engineering involved in reading the race track conditions. That helps team crew chiefs get ten thousand horsepower down the drag strip.

I was laughed at a few years ago when I suggested to a team affiliate that Toyota could make some hay putting its NASCAR engine into Pro Stock. Too expensive was the reply and that was after they already had the engine!

Engineering in drag racing might be overlooked in the sport. We get caught up in numbers but Toyota’s found a way to shrink the numbers to their favor.

Peace.